Wakefield Books August Newsletter

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Summer greetings from Wakefield Books! We hope your summer has been great so far, and we thank you for making us a part of it. Read on for the latest offerings in our store this month including all the new releases, best sellers, required summer reading titles, calendars, fresh new bargain books as well as other surprises.

We hope to see you soon!

Available Now !

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

The most anticipated release of the year is finally here!

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

Author Event Sunday August 14th @ 6pm

The Authors on Main Series for August

at the Contemporary Theater

Wakefield Books and the Contemporary Theater welcome author Susan Strecker on Sunday night August 14th

at 6pm. Admission is free and her books will be available to purchase and have signed.

Susan's book is Nowhere Girl

there will be

Sixteen years after her twin sister, Savannah, was found dead in a derelict house on the edge of town, a bestselling thriller writer begins to uncover what really happened.

In Store Booksignings This Month

Lots of Author signing events this month.

Wakefield Books welcomes:

On Saturday 8/6 from 12-2

Bob Perlow author of The Warmup Guy

A comedy show where no one is laughing is anything but funny, so from the late 1970s to the early 2000s, stand-up comedian Robert Perlow made it his mission to keep the energy flowing on television sets. Perlow perfected his routine as a warmup guy on the sets of some of television's most popular shows, including Friends, Will & Grace, Growing Pains, Cheers, Full House, and The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. From an improv class with Robin Williams to a heated encounter with Tim Allen, Perlow saw it all. He uses his trademark humor to reveal personal recollections from both behind and in front of the camera in this hilarious tell-all book.

On Saturday 8/13 from 12-2

John Enright author of Some People Talk With God

The past just won't go away. Dominick likes to idle there in history's comfortable remove, but when his mother dies and he meets the half sister he never knew he had, the past becomes more personal-and the present more dangerous.

Once again, Dominick's quest for noninvolvement and a purely "observer's" status is thwarted by reality. In Some People Talk With God, follow the new misadventures of this charming wanderer as he encounters an ineffable world of lovers, schemers, and fanatics.

On Saturday 8/27 from 12-2

Nancy Brown author of Seasons of the Heart

During the past few weeks since Donn died, I've met a couple of widows (they were my patients). One of them said that she had been a widow for several months and how difficult it was. The other had been a widow for a year or so. I was speaking with them at different times, and they both said, "You wouldn't understand anyway. No one understands unless they have experienced this." I told them that I recently had become a widow, and they both said, "Oh, doesn't life rot? Isn't it awful?" One of them added, "Doesn't life deal an unfair hand of cards?"

I thought to myself, Is there something wrong with me? Am I crazy? (I can hear Donn laughing now and saying, "Yes, bud, you are crazy. But I love you anyway!") But I don't feel that way. I have been dealt a wonderful set of cards, and I have been blessed.

2015 New England Book Awards

Congratulations to the

2016 New England

Book Award Winners

For Fiction:

Before the Fall

by Noah Hawley

On a foggy summer night, eleven people--ten privileged, one down-on-his-luck painter--depart Martha's Vineyard on a private jet headed for New York. Sixteen minutes later, the unthinkable happens: the plane plunges into the ocean. The only survivors are Scott Burroughs--the painter--and a four-year-old boy, who is now the last remaining member of an immensely wealthy and powerful media mogul's family.

Runners up -

Half Wild: Stories by Robin MacArthur

God's Kingdom by Howard Frank Mosher

Goodnight Beautiful Women by Anna Noyes

Georgia by Dawn Tripp

For Non-Fiction:

Soul of an Octopus

by Sy Montgomery

This book explores the emotional and physical world of the octopus-a surprisingly complex, intelligent, and spirited creature-and the remarkable connections it makes with humans. From New England aquarium tanks to the reefs of French Polynesia and the Gulf of Mexico, each creature shows intelligence in myriad ways: escaping enclosures like an orangutan; jetting water to bounce balls; and endlessly tricking companions with multiple "sleights of hand" to get food.

Runners up -

Evicted by Matthew Desmond (Crown)

Tribe by Sebastian Junger (Machete)

Thing Explainer by Randall Monroe (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick (Viking)

For Children's:

Wolf Hallow

by Lauren Wolk

Brilliantly crafted, Wolf Hollow is a haunting tale of America at a crossroads and a time when one girl's resilience and strength help to illuminate the darkest corners of our history.

Runners up -

Daniel Finds a Poem by Micha Archer

Sweet Pea & Friends: The Sheepover by John & Jennifer Churchman

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor

Mother Bruce by Ryan Higgins

This Month's Featured Local Interest Titles

101 Things to Do in Rhode Island

by Gary J. Sikorski

Travel with local resident and photographer Gary J. Sikorski on a tour of 101 things to do and see how the smallest state contains many big wonders you can explore with more than 300 stunning photographs.Captions and text include helpful tips from a local's perspective and other useful information. Handy maps of the state, Newport, Providence, and Block Island are also included. Whether it's your first trip to the Ocean State or you're a local, you are sure to find something new and exciting that Rhode Island has to offer.

It's About the People Not Just the Games

by Paul Kenyon

There's no one in Rhode Island who has covered as many sporting events in as many places as Paul Kenyon. Over his fifty-year career as a journalist (including thirty-seven years at The Providence Journal), he covered the Boston Red Sox, the New England Patriots, University of Rhode Island basketball, high school sports, all things golf, and other sports.

The Ferry Home

by Debbie Kaiman Tillinghast

Step back in time to a simpler life as you read this captivating memoir of growing up in the 1950s on the small island of Prudence along the New England coast. A story of reconnecting to long-forgotten childhood bonds and memories, Debbie Kaiman Tillinghast's The Ferry Home embraces joyful moments with humor and more troubling emotions with compassion. Experience the rhythm of life on Prudence Island, the ebb and flow of changing tides and seasons, and the patterns and relationships that emerge. It is a place where independence is fostered, but friends are always there when needed. As Debbie's vivid accounts unfold, you will feel like you too have just stepped off the ferry and been embraced by the tiny Prudence Island community.

Eavesdropping on Ommergau

by Hilary Salk

(This Author will be appearing at the Narragansett Library on 8/15 @ 6:30pm)

Post-war Oberammergau, home to the world famous enactment of the Passion Play is the backdrop to Salk's fictionalized account of her time there as the only child of a Jewish military officer.

Staff Picks for August

In the Barren Ground

by Loreth Anne White

(Releases 8/16) Two young student scientists are brutally killed in a bear/wolf attack near the small town of Twin Rivers, population 320, near the northern Canadian border with the Arctic Circle. Young rookie cop Tana Larsson, who is secretly five months pregnant, chose this small town to start over again after some bad choices and events in her life. As she begins to investigate the murders, she begins to question whether it was an animal killing or murder. This is the third Loreth Anne White novel I've read and it definitely will not be the last. Her amazing descriptions about the bitter cold environment of Twin Rivers and the people who fight to survive there were incredible causing me to huddle under my blankets even though I was reading on a hot and humid summer night. The pace is steady throughout the story and the plot keeps you on your toes guessing until the very end. Great book! -Lisa

Maud's Line

by Margaret Verble

Set in the 1920's in Oklahoma, this debut novel follows the hardscrabble life of 18 year old Maud Nail, a part Cherokee woman living on her family's land allotment. Life is physically difficult as Maud cooks & cleans for her mostly absent & mostly unemployed father & her younger brother. Missing her mother, Maud spends time with her aunts & their children. A feud with a local white family creates steady tension as Maud finds escape through books & dreams of a different life for herself. That escape suddenly appears as a possibility when a handsome white man moves through the area & encourages Maud's intellectual development. A wonderful historical novel about a young woman's coming of age & discovering her true desires. -Kim

What Alice Forgot

by Liane Moriarty

Alice falls off her bike in spin class, hits her head, and loses the last 10 years of her memory. When she comes to, she thinks she is still deliriously, madly in love with her husband Nick, living in a fixer upper new home, and pregnant with their 1st child. The truth is she is going through a nasty divorce and custody battle, has 3 kids she doesn't remember, is in love with a new man, and she doesn't understand the person she has evidently become. Funny and sad at the same time, I could not put this book down because it's about how things happen over time to change us and it is a very real and believable story. -Sue

Hemingway Thief

by Shaun Harris

Henry Cooper so wants to be respected as a serious writer, but the only books he's written that are successful are vampire romances he writes shamefully under the name of Toulouse Velour. Then as he's kicking back in Mexico he comes across not only an unknown expanded edition of Hemingway's

Moveable Feast, but clues to the whereabouts of other unknown works by the author. Now he's on the hunt but so are a deranged antique book dealer, con artists, and Mexican mercenaries.A hilarious and fun debut novel. Perfect for a summer escape.

-Bob

The Girls

by Emma Cline

Evie Boyd just wanted to fit in with the "it" girls. She wasn't quite sure who these "it" girls were until she saw them in the park one day and knew she had to be one of them. Soon Evie is brought into the world of a "soon to be famous" cult. How she feels about these girls and what she does to fit in completely changes the way Evie will look at the world she's in! This was a great read!

-Bonnie

.

The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up

by Marie Kondo

This book is a quick, relaxing, and almost therapeutic read. Kondo presents a simple yet incredibly compelling method to de-cluttering and how to decide which possessions "spark joy" and which are just taking up space. This would be a great gift for a student deciding what to pack for college!

-Hannah

New Releases for August

August 2nd

August 9th

August 16th

August 23rd

August 30th

Paperback releases this Month

30% off select Hardcover Best Sellers Everyday

Here are just a few of the new additions this week

Wakefield Books

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Thank You !

Shelf Awareness

August Newsletter Features:

Harry Potter 8 is here!

Authors on Main Series

In Store Author Events

New England Book Awards

Local Author Spotlight

August 9th is National Book Lover's Day !

A day for those who love to read, Book Lovers Day encourages you to kick back and relax with a great book. Vacation is one way to escape from your daily life, opening a book is another. From shaded spots under arching trees to being tucked up in bed, there's no better way to celebrate Book Lovers Day than to while the hours away lost in a book.

Fun Facts:

The very first books used parchment or vellum (calf skin) for the book pages.
The book covers were made of wood and often covered with leather.
The books were fitted with clasps or straps.
Public libraries appeared in the Middle Ages.

Don't forget your sunblock before you hit the beach! We are now featuring the new Naked Zinc Sunscreen and lip balm

Naked Zinc is finally here! Naked Bee's newest sunscreen is now available -- just in time for summer. You heard it here first folks: Zinc-based sunscreen is

where it's at.

Naked Zinc won't give you lifeguard nose though -- it disappears into the skin quite nicely. Naked Zinc will also have "All the good stuff, and none of the bad stuff" so you won't need to fret ingredients. Check it out!

2017 Calendars are Here!

Great new calendars and planners for 2017 are arriving now, with more coming soon. Get your copy now and get organized for the coming year!

I Heard it on NPR..........

Here's what National Public Radio is saying about these new releases............

Natural Way of Things by Charlotte Wood A ferocious new novel by the Australian Charlotte Wood whose writing recalls the early Elena Ferrante - it's tough, direct, and makes no attempt to be ingratiating. Set in a dystopian backwater, her short, gripping book begins as an allegory of thuggish misogyny then evolves into a far stranger and more challenging feminist parable.	*The Sunlight Pilgrims* by Jenni Fagan . The year is 2020, and temperatures of near 50 below have settled into the northern latitudes. But this is more than a survivalist potboiler. Stella is a 12-year old transgender girl living in a trailer park in Scotland. Her mother Constance refurbishes thrift-store finds to get by. And a bereaved man named Dylan wanders north from England, intersecting their lives in unexpected ways.Yes, it's bleak. But Fagan also imbues it sparks of wit, scathing sweetness, and twists of tragic beauty.
To The Secretary: Leaked Embassy Cables and America's Foreign Policy Disconnect, by Mary Thompson-Jones Thompson-Jones, an ex-State Department employee, attempts to sift through a few key cables for a lay audience that were first made available from Wikileaks.This book reveals the disconnect that diplomats face at home, guided by conflicting approaches from multiple Washington stakeholders intent on their own agenda, often unaware of realities on the ground. A cohesive look at foreign policy is a complex task, but the essential question she asks is "How many times must we repeat the past?"	Dark Matter by Blake Crouch Jason Dessen, the protagonist of the new novel Dark Matter, is just a regular guy: He's 40, a devoted husband, a professor of physics at a small college, and a loving father to a teenage son. But one day he's drugged and kidnapped and wakes up to find he's in a very different world. Not just a different world - a different life. It's a book that examines the polar extremes of the choices that we make in our lives that can set us down one road or another. Often what's scary about them is we don't know that those choices in this moment will define the rest of our lives.
You'll Grow Out of It by Jesse Klein Uproarious and poignant stories from the Inside Amy Schumer head writer's awkward youth include entries on her tomboy pursuits of femininity, her emulation of Oprah and the dangers of wedding websites.	*You Will Know Me* by Megan Abbott Do we really know those we're closest to? The riveting book "You Will Know Me," set in the world of competitive gymnastics, suggests not.

This Month's Featured product:

Handmade Poseable Faires from Tassie Design

The fairies are brought to life by a loving family business inspired by cottage industry. Tassie is a company with 100% original designs implemented by artisans who have many years of experience. The brother and sister, who own the company, inherited it from their parents.Most of the fairy assembly takes place in Phrae, one of the most ancient provinces in Thailand. The workers start at $10 a day (their days are eight hours and they typically work 5-6 days a week). Tassie supports their workers in gaining more advanced skills to earn as much as 2 ½ times the minimum wage. The employees work in a safe environment and have the option to assemble fairies in their own homes. The fairies look forward to bringing their love and joy to your home! The Faires are 5 inches tall and come with a golden thread on which to hang.